CentreBar announces new agenda

John Malpas reports

THE BAR association fighting for a share of international copyright, communications, entertainment, technology and trade- mark work, has announced its aims for the first time.

A soon-to-be published mission statement from the two-year-old CentreBar association reads: "A perfectly competitive market in legal, as in other, services requires that consumers of those services be perfectly informed. It requires also the providers of those services be cognisant of and responsive to consumers' needs."

It continues: "Only recently has the Bar begun to respond to those imperatives. CentreBar was created to bring together barristers, attorneys and senior industry figures from all over the world who meet its criteria of excellence."

Joint chair Anthony Martino, of 5 New Square, said CentreBar was flying the flag abroad for the UK Bar, which was often perceived as overly intellectual and out of touch. He said he wanted to show that barristers at the Bar were not stuck in an ivory tower.